Connectivity issues to LWA, training and WWI arenas

[bozon]

Occasionally I get a strange connection issues to the server hosting the late war arena.

This is what happens:
In the server selection screen I see a ping of 200 and no packet loss.
When logging into LWA, I receive the first (one or few) updates, which then stops. I get stuck with about 8 people per country listed in the roster (more than 200 logged in at the time) and only the first text message appears in the box if it was set just at the time when I logged into the arena.
After that:
* I do not get new names in the roster and no new planes appear on dar. The ones that were there, keep updating.
* No new text messages in the buffer.
* I cannot move base or go to the hangar.
* Net variance is very flat and does not show any hickups or flats.
* after about a minute I get the "connection lost".

At the same time, the other servers (midwar for example) works perfectly.

Any ideas?

[Skuzzy]

Sounds like the game is having to do retries to get all the arena data and is finally timing out.  Lot of things can cause this.

In no particular order.

1)  Wireless/satellite connections.  Too many bit errors in the data stream or latencies too high.
2)  Not enough resources available in the computer to run with all the data required for the large arenas or complex model designs in WW1.
3)  Wireless router needs to be power cycled.
4)  Router needs to be power cycled.
5)  Running a software firewall with an improper connection.
6)  Running Norton or McAfee.  Or possibly some other anti-xxxx software that is wreaking havoc with the inbound data.
7)  The Internet itself is having problems. Ping Plotter should be able to help identify that.

Many other things could interfere with the connection.  Those are just some highlights.

[Noir]

the connection to LWA and related arenas are always worst to me than the others, by 50ms almost

[Skuzzy]

the connection to LWA and related arenas are always worst to me than the others, by 50ms almost

Connections to any crowded arenaor arenas with large terrains, or arenas with terrains which have a lot of custom objects on it, will always be worse on computers who are having any type of resource issues. 

As the servers are all on the same network, any time differential will always be something external to the servers which we have no control over.  Server loads have no impact on ping times.  This is just how we have designed the entire system.

[bozon]

I definitely have no resource problems. High FPS and 8Gb RAM leaves lots of spare. I don't even use the highest resolution textures.

The connection issues seem to happen mostly on EU evening time when I often log in. It then gradually improves after 23:00 local. I was running trace routes and they did not seem that bad: 200-220 ms ping, very rare packet losses, no big jumps in ping times between hops except for the cross-Atlantic jump. No difference between the LWA and the other HTC servers.

The funny thing is that after logging in, I get the first update for a few players and then I receive no new player - but the ones that were sent keep updating. I see them flying around from the tower, I see their dots on dar move. I hear vox if someone speaks in the tower. The variance in net status window is normal and keeps updating. Yet, no more players appear in the roster and in the air, I cannot move to the hangar or spawn and lose connection after about a minute.

From the 7 point list above I basically eliminated everything except "7". Since by now I realized this behavior has typical hours I tend to blame the net, though I do not know where is the problem. I'll post the traceroute next time this happens.

[Skuzzy]

It does not matter if you have 5 million GB of system RAM, the application is relegated to 2GB of system RAM by Windows.  Big amounts of memory allow you to run more than one application at a time. with minimal swap activity.  32 bit applications can use up to 4GB of system RAM, if the system allows it.  The default is for Windows to restrict 32 bit applications to 2GB of RAM.

Resource issues can be anything and does not necessarily equate to a failing in the computer.  The issues you are having all sound network related, but that does not rule out other potential problems.

Are you running any type of anti-xxx software?

[bozon]

It does not matter if you have 5 million GB of system RAM, the application is relegated to 2GB of system RAM by Windows.  Big amounts of memory allow you to run more than one application at a time. with minimal swap activity.  32 bit applications can use up to 4GB of system RAM, if the system allows it.  The default is for Windows to restrict 32 bit applications to 2GB of RAM.

Resource issues can be anything and does not necessarily equate to a failing in the computer.  The issues you are having all sound network related, but that does not rule out other potential problems.

Are you running any type of anti-xxx software?

Thanks for the 2GB/4GB tip. I remember hearing something about this and will try to read a bit and see if I can enable it under Win7.

Any ideas on which resource to check? With the repeating accordances the accumulated statistics point towards a time-of-day dependence, which would mean that the problem is out in the net somewhere. Still, worth checking my resources.

My anti-xxx is called Linux. There is nothing but games installed on the Win7 partition and no firewall except the win7 built-in one (I do have a router though). The win7 came with MacAfee installed on it which I promptly removed once the free 30 days period expired. Since in other times of the day I get a reasonable connection I don't think that important ports are blocked.

[Skuzzy]

I could see this one as being related to the Internet.  Given the simple fact that during prime time hours the Internet is always less responsive, with wider swings in latencies, and the European links being pretty oversold is could add up to be the root issue.

[bozon]

Here is a traceroute example from just about now. Getting disconnected from the LWA with the usual symptoms:

Target Name: N/A
         IP: 206.16.60.41
  Date/Time: 25/09/2012 21:19:23 to 25/09/2012 21:19:58

 1    0 ms    0 ms    0 ms    0 ms    0 ms    0 ms    0 ms    0 ms  [192.168.1.1]
 2    5 ms    6 ms    6 ms    5 ms    5 ms    6 ms    6 ms    8 ms  85-250-64-1.bb.netvision.net.il [85.250.64.1]
 3    5 ms    6 ms   42 ms    5 ms    6 ms    6 ms    6 ms    6 ms  coresw2-rb3-lns1.hfa.nv.net.il [207.232.4.159]
 4    6 ms    6 ms   11 ms    5 ms    7 ms    8 ms    6 ms    6 ms  gw2-te2-2-core1.hfa.nv.net.il [212.143.7.27]
 5   91 ms   87 ms   86 ms   89 ms   86 ms   86 ms   86 ms   86 ms  gw2-fra-te0-3-0-0-100-gw2.hfa.fra.nv.net.il [212.143.16.124]
 6   87 ms   86 ms   91 ms   87 ms   87 ms   87 ms   86 ms   87 ms  [10.70.10.1]
 7   87 ms   86 ms   86 ms   86 ms  113 ms   86 ms   87 ms   86 ms  [212.162.5.161]
 8   90 ms   93 ms   91 ms   87 ms   96 ms   89 ms   86 ms   99 ms  vlan60.csw1.Frankfurt1.Level3 .net [4.69.154.62]
 9   87 ms   89 ms  127 ms   87 ms   86 ms   86 ms   87 ms   88 ms  ae-62-62.ebr2.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.140.17]
10   96 ms   97 ms  107 ms   96 ms   95 ms   96 ms   96 ms   96 ms  ae-21-21.ebr2.London1.Level3.net [4.69.148.185]
11  164 ms  165 ms  164 ms  165 ms  169 ms  165 ms  164 ms  165 ms  ae-41-41.ebr1.NewYork1.Level3.net [4.69.137.66]
12  167 ms  170 ms  170 ms  168 ms  172 ms  164 ms  164 ms  175 ms  ae-61-61.csw1.NewYork1.Level3.net [4.69.134.66]
13  166 ms  165 ms  N/A     164 ms  166 ms  164 ms  174 ms  170 ms  ae-1-60.edge3.NewYork1.Level3.net [4.69.155.17]
14  176 ms  174 ms  174 ms  174 ms  173 ms  173 ms  174 ms  174 ms  att-level3.newyork1.level3.net [4.68.63.142]
15  215 ms  217 ms  215 ms  215 ms  216 ms  216 ms  217 ms  215 ms  cr2.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.122.130.170]
16  214 ms  215 ms  216 ms  216 ms  214 ms  214 ms  219 ms  223 ms  cr2.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.122.3.38]
17  210 ms  210 ms  210 ms  210 ms  212 ms  211 ms  213 ms  218 ms  cr1.attga.ip.att.net [12.122.1.173]
18  221 ms  213 ms  215 ms  212 ms  214 ms  214 ms  214 ms  215 ms  cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.28.174]
19  210 ms  268 ms  264 ms  274 ms  262 ms  276 ms  251 ms  294 ms  ggr1.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.138.1]
20  208 ms  N/A     208 ms  N/A     N/A     208 ms  208 ms  211 ms  [12.122.251.70]
21  220 ms  216 ms  302 ms  215 ms  215 ms  218 ms  215 ms  218 ms  mdf001c7613r0004-gig-12-1.dal1.attens.net [63.241.193.14]
22  213 ms  210 ms  210 ms  210 ms  210 ms  210 ms  216 ms  218 ms  [206.16.60.41]

Ping statistics for 206.16.60.41
Packets: Sent = 8, Received = 8, Lost = 0 (0.0%)
Round Trip Times: Minimum = 210ms, Maximum = 218ms, Average = 212ms

[Skuzzy]

Here is what I get when I try to trace back to your second hop.

 traceroute 85.250.64.1
traceroute: Warning: Multiple interfaces found; using 206.16.60.38 @ iprb0
traceroute to 85.250.64.1 (85.250.64.1), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
 1  206.16.60.46 (206.16.60.46)  0.401 ms  0.317 ms  0.242 ms
 2  mdf001c7613r0002-gig-10-2.dal1.attens.net (63.241.193.17)  0.528 ms  0.430 ms  0.290 ms
 3  12.122.251.61 (12.122.251.61)  1.090 ms 12.122.251.57 (12.122.251.57)  1.051 ms 12.122.251.61 (12.122.251.61)  1.035 ms
 4  cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.122.138.190)  5.730 ms cr1.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.122.85.70)  4.976 ms cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.122.138.190)  3.907 ms
 5  12.122.212.13 (12.122.212.13)  1.314 ms 12.122.212.9 (12.122.212.9)  1.246 ms  1.262 ms
 6  192.205.36.42 (192.205.36.42)  2.158 ms  1.643 ms  1.577 ms
 7  013-netvision.franco31.fra.seabone.net (89.221.34.151)  126.311 ms  125.375 ms  128.179 ms
 8  * * *
 9  gw2-be1-100-gw1.fra.nv.net.il (212.143.16.121)  126.115 ms  123.400 ms  123.419 ms
10  ten0-3-0-3.gw2-hfa.fra.nv.net.il (212.143.16.125)  203.987 ms  202.720 ms  205.649 ms
11  core2-te2-1-gw2.hfa.nv.net.il (212.143.7.28)  205.700 ms core2-te1-1-gw2.hfa.nv.net.il (212.143.7.26)  212.020 ms core1-te2-1-gw2.hfa.nv.net.il (212.143.7.24)  205.760 ms
12  85-250-64-1.bb.netvision.net.il (85.250.64.1)  205.600 ms  206.791 ms  205.118 ms

It is a mess.  There is definitely some type of routing flap going on.  It could be any ISP between you and us.  I'll file a trouble ticket with AT&T, but I got a bad feeling as you have Level3 in your path, which is ALWAYS going to be a problem during prime time.